


Clap Your Hands If You Regret That Tweet

by gingercinderella



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Online Romance, Outing, Shitty Knight is a Good Bro, Twitter, Twitter DMs as a major plot device 😬, drunk tweeting, practice safe online dating first dates y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:34:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23569900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingercinderella/pseuds/gingercinderella
Summary: The first time Kent DMs him, it's to ask Bitty to take down a thirst tweet.Every other time Kent messages him is more fun
Relationships: Eric "Bitty" Bittle/Kent "Parse" Parson
Comments: 61
Kudos: 273





	1. The Tweets

"How do you not know who Bad Bob is?"

He wanted to belong here. He wouldn't change himself, but he certainly could look into hockey. He played it now, for Christ's sake. And he had an internet connection and it wasn't an imposition to look at men with the best asses and some of the best everything else in the world. 

It didn’t take long for him to find a favorite. Quick on the ice, cocky in interviews, blond and tiny - of course Bitty wanted to be him. (Of course Bitty wanted to kiss him.)

Kent Parson’s stats were incredible. His rookie year was legendary. His face when he was holding the first Stanley Cup had this wide smile that didn’t match anything else, and Lord if that didn’t spin a whole story in Bitty’s head. Some tragic figure, who presented one cool, cocky facade to the world and was hiding some inner self capable of a genuine smile. (That inner self didn’t mean gay. Definitely not.)

He knew the Aces scores after that, the boys fined him every time he would mention Vegas games. Johnson smiled after he had slipped and said “Kent won-” instead of “Aces won-” and said quietly that he wouldn’t tell.

They didn’t tease him about being out of touch, anymore. It was good.

His time on the team settled in. He felt confident there, loved the boys and gifted them pies and even didn't feel personally targetted by the captain anymore. Maybe that was as good as he could hope for from Jack. He went to parties with them, when the upperclassmen invited him. The second party that Ransom took him to, at the Lambda house, Bitty drank.

> @omgcheckplease
> 
> Kent PArson is welcome to score anytime ya feel. Cute Hockey players deserve cute puck bunniess lol @kvparson_official @AcesLasVegas #youknow
> 
> 2:35 am

Bitty woke up on the disgusting Haus couch with his head spinning. The Lambda boys called their punch diesel fuel, and he had to wonder if that wouldn’t have been better to drink. He remembered stumbling back from the party with Ransom and Shitty - when had Shitty even gotten there? - and being seated on the couch, with ESPN on. So thoughtful. Someone had ordered Taco Bell, and the crunchwrap supreme had felt like a revelation, the epitome of what humanity could do, wrapped in a flour tortilla. The TV screen had clips of interviews throughout the week - Tom Brady, Roger Federer, Kent Parson, Manu Ginobili. Bitty had pulled out his phone, typing some tweet.

The thought of it made Bitty internally shudder. It was certainly something embarrassing and regretful, but right now he could only recall that he’d tagged Kent’s account and had giggled while he tweeted it.

He started looking for his phone and when he found it on the floor by the couch, it was dead. Figured. Someone had left their charger plugged in on the other side of the room, so he left his phone to charge and stumbled over to the kitchen for water and sustenance.

“Rough night?” Jack asked, looking him over in a way that Bitty couldn’t tell if it was smug or flirtatious or reproachful and he just wasn’t in the mood for it.

“Been better,” he answered, knowing what there was to see. He was still in his jeans from last night with something he didn’t care to identify splashed around the ankles, and shirtless. He’d probably pulled it off last night at some point and he’d have to go looking but right now he had priorities. And right now, they were water and an egg- he’d left some here when he’d made cookies last week, and there were some pans in the cupboards that weren’t entirely gross.

By the time he came back to his phone with eggs on toast and a cup of coffee, he felt decidedly more human. It was still early - not even 7 - so he could delete the tweet before anyone saw. He had what, two hundred followers? He was fine.

He still had a mouthful of egg when his phone booted up, finally, and the notifications poured in.

And the DMs.

Namely: kvparson_official.

> @kvparson_official: Hey. That’s flattering, you’re very sweet, but could you delete it? Thx.

> @AcesLasVegas: Please remove our handle from your tweet. Thanks, Aces Management.

His tweet had two thousand likes.

The number made Bitty want to scream.

The tweet itself made him want to scream. What kind of thirst tweet was that?

He deleted it promptly - which he’d been planning to anyways- and sent the same reply to both of the DMs

> @omgcheckplease: I’ve deleted it. Sorry for any issues! 

He screenshotted what he could and dropped it in the team groupchat with eight blushing emojis and then left the Haus, ready to crash back in bed with his laptop, the recent episodes of Cutthroat Kitchen, and enough water to cure his hangover by noon.

The next week, Jack looked at him oddly, staring into him like he was searching for something, and Bitty did his best to ignore it. He had the right to say whatever he pleased outside of practice.

Neither Kent nor the Aces ever replied.

He brushed it off as best he could and concentrated on skating.

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Bitty was stone cold sober and just leaving class when Ransom texted him a link to an article from a dumb tabloid.

He cursed in the hallway outside his English classroom.

The pictures in the article were damning. No way around it. Two separate bars, two separate outfits for the pair of them, the same blond and ginger heads tucked together like they had a secret between them, and they did. The photos of them kissing proved that. The photos of Kent looking at the ginger like he hung the damn moon proved it, too.

The next day made Bitty want to pull his hair out, just watching the articles unfold.

They called his conduct inappropriate, as if hockey players weren’t photographed kissing women every day. And- well, they weren’t. That sort of picture wasn’t news. Some corners of the internet called for his contract to be revoked, certain that there was some sort of morality clause that the Aces could use against him.

As if the images were immoral.

> @omgcheckplease
> 
> Y’all need to lay the fuck off Parson. He’s just on a goddamn date. He’s had the best season of his career if you haven’t noticed? Who gives a shit if he’s kissing dudes.
> 
> 11:34 am

> @omgcheckplease
> 
> I mean. I do. I care alot because #representation but that’s NOT THE POINT here. Let the man play hockey and win Cups and kiss pretty boys. He’s living the goddamn dream.
> 
> 11:37 am

Eric went into class and Professor Palumbo didn’t allow phones and she wasn’t one to cross- she’d taken a Chad’s phone out of his hands the second week of class.

When he came out, the tweet had fifteen hundred likes.

Best he could tell, one of his followers retweeted and one of theirs retweeted and then someone famous did.

Oh lord.

By dinner, it was at four thousand. Five, afterwards.

His phone buzzed at 10 pm while he was waiting for an apple pie to finish baking.

> @kvparson_official: Thx for the support? 


	2. The DMs - Part I

@kvparson_official: Thx for the support? 

@kvparson_official: i didn’t even realize you were the puck bunny guy from before ha

@omgcheckplease: Oh! Hi! Yeah of course!!

@omgcheckplease: Is this you asking me to take it down again? I totally can!!

@kvparson_official: nah no point now, and its not the end of the world that I’ve got a few supportive tweets

@omgcheckplease: I guess? This whole thing is so terrible and totally unfair. 

@omgcheckplease: I’m not the only one supportive!! You’ve got a whole community behind you and your boyfriend!!

@omgcheckplease: or date!

@kvparson_official: ex.

@kvparson_official: it’s good to throw away my career on a guy who left me, super on brand

@kvparson_official: 👍

@omgcheckplease: Oh sweet jesus I’m so sorry.

@kvparson_official: nah it’s cool it’s just what it is

@kvparson_official: though it’d be best if you didn’t mention that part to newspapers

@omgcheckplease: Is the Aces account going to tell me the same? Their DM was so formal!

@kvparson_official: doubtful. They’re about to write me off as a loss probably

@omgcheckplease: No way!! You’re the captain for crying out loud!! 

@kvparson_official: and i’m a pain in their ass

@kvparson_official: i’m not worth their trouble, if they kept me the publicity about having the first out player sounds like their least favorite headache

@omgcheckplease: Pardon my french but that is some toasted bullshit.

@kvparson_official: oui

@omgcheckplease: omg don’t remind me I fucking hate french

@kvparson_official: lol it’s a love language and you’re being lovely

@kvparson_official: besides, you brought it up checkie

@omgcheckplease: checkie? 

@kvparson_official: best i can do from omgcheckplease

@omgcheckplease: ...or you could use my name? Eric? My team calls me Bitty.

@omgcheckplease: It’s in my profile?

@kvparson_official: I’ll think about it

@omgcheckplease: So not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but, uh, why did you DM me?

@kvparson_official: i’m not a horse i’m a stallion i’ve have you know

@kvparson_official: ha, i guess just to say thanks. yours was the first big tweet i saw that was positive

@kvparson_official: just kind of funny that you were the one with the thirst tweet too

@omgcheckplease: Omgggg you’ll make me blush. I was so drunk when I posted that!!! It was a mistake!!!

@kvparson_official: so I don’t deserve cute puck bunnies?? damn

@omgcheckplease: You know what I mean!

@omgcheckplease: That was so embarrassing!

@omgcheckplease: And I tagged you in it???? And the Aces????

@kvparson_official: yeah they thought it was way less funny than i did that's for sure

@omgcheckplease: Again, I’m so so sorry!

@kvparson_official: checkie its fine

@omgcheckplease: Do you always give people nicknames?

@kvparson_official: i play hockey it’s in my blood

@omgcheckplease: Bitty is a hockey nickname!

@omgcheckplease: At least, it’s what my team calls me

@kvparson_official: wait shit you play hockey

@kvparson_official: clearly i didn’t look that closely at your profile

@omgcheckplease: It’s not in my bio. But yeah, college D1 starting line!!

@kvparson_official: Samwell’s a good program

@kvparson_official: wait is that you? You’re fast in that game against Brown

@omgcheckplease: Are you watching my games??

@kvparson_official: seems fair, i bet you’ve seen most of mine

@omgcheckplease: But yeah I’m pretty quick

@omgcheckplease: Don’t chirp me!!!

@kvparson_official: but it’s accurate right?

@kvparson_official: your tweet was the only one that mentioned anything about my season being good

@omgcheckplease: Well I just kind of figured that you having a relationship helped your game?

@omgcheckplease: But I was just guessing!!

@omgcheckplease: But also that hat trick you had against the Penguins???

@omgcheckplease: You’re a ridiculous player and if you leave or get kicked off or whatever it will be the biggest fucking shame in modern hockey.

@kvparson_official: having him didn’t hurt my game lol

@kvparson_official: you’re adorable when you’re fired up

@omgcheckplease: This is chirping again Mr Parson!

@kvparson_official: Is it?

.

.

@omgcheckplease: You DID NOT just break radio silence on your twitter to post that.

@kvparson_official:  ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

> @kvparson_official
> 
> Can we all just agree that the line between chirping and flirting is slim af
> 
> 1:11 am


	3. The DMs - Part II

@omgcheckplease: I don’t think I expected that tweet to still be there this morning.

@omgcheckplease: Either for sure it was a dream in the first place or the Aces would make you take it down.

@kvparson_official: there was a phone call at midnight that i’d rather not relive

@kvparson_official: but the tweet lives on 

@omgcheckplease: Is that a good idea???

@kvparson_official: probs not

@kvparson_official: but i really think it doesn’t matter anymore

@omgcheckplease: As I said: that’s fucking insane.

@omgcheckplease: Do you think they’ll trade you?

@kvparson_official: lol who would take me

@omgcheckplease: Kent Parson do NOT pretend like you weren’t in ESPN’s top 50 pro athletes last year

@omgcheckplease: You’re worth the trouble.

@kvparson_official: aww you do like me

@omgcheckplease: That was never the question here hon.

@omgcheckplease: Get traded and play more hockey and kick the shit out of the Aces when you play them again.

@kvparson_official: gotta say i didn’t expect the aggression there checkie

@omgcheckplease: I play hockey.

@omgcheckplease: I still can’t take a check to save a game but boy do I know how to talk big game.

@kvparson_official: can’t take a check?

@kvparson_official: then how are you playing hockey

@omgcheckplease: We’re not talking about me here!

@omgcheckplease: As I said! It’d be a tragedy if you quit.

@kvparson_official: it won’t be better somewhere else

.

.

@omgcheckplease: I refuse to believe that.

@kvparson_official: i’ll talk to management

@kvparson_official: you’re one hell of an idealist

@omgcheckplease: Might just be self preservation here

@omgcheckplease: If a pro hockey player can’t make it work, what hope do I have?

@kvparson_official: you’ve got more of a chance not being a pro hockey player you know

@omgcheckplease: Haha yeah I guess! Sorry I’m just being silly!

@kvparson_official: are you blushing

@kvparson_official: i can feel the anxiety in that text all the way in vegas

@omgcheckplease: We’re talking about you not me here!!

@omgcheckplease: But also I just realized how insane it is to be telling you all this

@kvparson_official: it’s not silly

@kvparson_official: i like you telling me all of this

@kvparson_official: nice to have someone who’s bothering

@omgcheckplease: I’m not the only one who cares!!! Guaranteed!!

@kvparson_official: i guess not

@omgcheckplease: Would you want to retire?

@kvparson_official: a, it’s not really retirement if i’m quitting in shame

@kvparson_official: and b, fuck no

@kvparson_official: i love this

@omgcheckplease: Okay. Just checking,

@omgcheckplease: Wouldn’t be quitting in shame

@omgcheckplease: There’s literally nothing to be ashamed of here

@kvparson_official: we can stop that line of thought okay

@omgcheckplease: Yeah, of course.

@kvparson_official: back to: you can’t take a check??

@omgcheckplease: UGH

@omgcheckplease: Why did I tell you that?? It’s so embarrassing!

@omgcheckplease: Before college I was in a no-check co-ed league

@omgcheckplease: And before that I figure skated.

@kvparson_official: competitively?

@omgcheckplease: Yeah.

@omgcheckplease: You’re googling me again, aren’t you?

@kvparson_official: maybe

@kvparson_official: you were really good

@kvparson_official: not that i totally understand what’s good besides “not falling” and “spins good” in figure skating

@omgcheckplease: I was really good at the “spins good” stuff, yeah

@kvparson_official: so how’d you end up in hockey?

@kvparson_official: there’s no checking if you’d stuck with that

@omgcheckplease: Well.

@omgcheckplease: You know. Wasn’t easy. Being in Georgia and… yeah.

@kvparson_official: yeah

@kvparson_official: fuckin sucks

@omgcheckplease: RETWEET

@kvparson_official: hey here’s my number

@kvparson_official: easier to text than dm


	4. The Texts

Shitty elbowed Bitty on their way to the Haus, each holding a bag of groceries to restock the kitchen.

“Who’s texting you, huh?”

Bitty could feel himself flush and shook his head. “Just somebody.”

He chuckled at that. “Yeah, okay, keep your secrets. Guess you’d have to find someone.”

Bitty bit back a smile and answered Kent’s most recent text, checking off on the ingredients Kent had photographed on his counter. Kent, who he’d recently learned was more extra ™ than even Bitty had guessed, had gone to a farmer’s market for fresh blueberries.

As he made his pie, when the boys would flit through the kitchen grabbing snacks or water, he would lie and say that the step by step photographs were for his mama. Thankfully nobody was in the kitchen when he got the photo back of Kent’s completed pie. It had exploded out of the top crust a little in the oven, and Kit was sitting on the table staring up at Kent like the pie was in her spot.

> **🐈** K : i tried

Bitty laughed aloud and then muttered to himself a quiet “what in the world am I doing”. It was all patently ridiculous and he didn’t know where this was going but it was fun. He tried to hold onto that.

And it was nice to be wanted like this. He liked being able to throw Kent a lifeline of someone who just wanted the best for him. If he wasn’t able to talk about it to anyone, that was fine.

> @kvparson_official
> 
> if you’re not making a pie on your day off, your priorities are not like mine
> 
> 4:48 pm

> 🏒 Shitty: Why did Kent Fucking Parson just post a picture of the exact same kind of pie you made
> 
> 🏒 Shitty: With the exact same hockey stick shaped slits in the crust
> 
> 🏒 Shitty: BITTY YOU’VE GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO

Bitty brought two slices up to Shitty’s room and sat on the desk, kicking his feet and looking down while he talked about the last two weeks. His phone stayed in his hand, constantly sending off more texts to Kent. The “day off” was more than that - it was a horrible limbo the team had placed on him, unable to kick him off yet and waiting for teams to get back to them about taking him off their hands.

It disgusted Bitty.

Better that he was getting out of a team like that, before things got truly nasty.

But it wasn’t right.

Shitty nodded as he spun out the tale in fits and starts, interwoven with the current updates he got from Kent.

“And he’s cool with you telling me?”

“The exact words were ‘yeah what’s to lose now’”

Shitty shook his head. “You taking care of yourself too?”

Bitty nodded. It was close to the truth at least.

They didn’t bring it up again, but two days later Shitty texted him a link to an article rumoring that Kent was being traded to the Penguins. 

> 🏒 Shitty: I bet you know more than this article does

He did.

Bitty texted Kent daily- endlessly. They had learned each other’s schedules. Bitty knew when Kent hit new PRs in the gym, which he did too often now, the boy was pushing himself too hard and no longer had to save his energy for practice later. Kent heard about the essays Bitty worked on, and the practices, and the checking clinics in the early weekend mornings. Bitty learned about the talks with teams. He’d mapped out the distances between Samwell and the prospective teams, had tried to figure out which ones would be more welcoming, which was an impossible task.

They baked another pie together, this time on the phone the whole time as well.

Kent’s voice sounded like a carefree hockey bro, like talking to someone on the team. Just- with an extra element of confusing flirting and chirping and Bitty didn’t know what was happening but he was along for the ride. When Kent found somewhere to settle in and found a boyfriend, he’d quit texting this random freshman from twitter, and that was fine.

For now, it was fun.

Bitty held his breath the day of the announcement, Kent’s texts back to him stressed but pretending not to be.

> @SportsCenter
> 
> Breaking: Kent Parson to be traded to Providence Falconers for Adam Savage. (link)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does the total chapter count keep climbing?  
> Yes.  
> Are the chapters getting shorter?  
> Yes.  
> Did I use a mythbuster's name?  
> Yes.  
> But are there daily updates?  
> Also yes.  
> Ya girl's doing her best okay.  
> I think it'll be one more but i make no promises


	5. Cinderella Man

Shitty drove him in her beat up black Subaru and demanded two pies as a payment. He didn’t ask questions, just wanted to know the plan.

It was more than fair. He could have taken a train, but there was a safety thing here. Anything could happen- he still didn’t… know Kent, the way he needed to before he took the train up himself, had no way of getting around without uber. 

It was a tiny downtown, and the pair of them settled into the coffee shop that they’d picked from yelp. Kent had been no help, hadn’t been anywhere in town beyond the rink and the two apartments his real estate agent had shown him. 

(He’d sent photos to Bitty and asked which he should pick. Bitty had muttered to himself  _ this boy _ and flipped his phone over, screen side down, while in English class, his whole body blushing. What kind of guy asked a near stranger which penthouse to buy?)

Shitty opened his philosophy book and took a sip of the cappuccino Bitty had bought. “You’ll be back in two hours?”

“I swear.”

“Keep it in your pants and don’t get your kidney stolen, alright?”

Bitty gave him a gentle shove and got up. “Thanks again.”

Shitty nodded and then shooed him away, looking down into his book.

Kent was waiting for him at the corner.

Bitty could see him from a ways off- he wasn’t taller than everyone else, but it wasn’t Boston, there weren’t many people between them. He was muscular, as all the pictures would show. He stood like he was trying to slouch into himself, collapse into the lamppost he was leaned against, into nothing. And he had a snapback on. Falcs, now, but it was so on brand. Good lord.

When he looked up from his and smiled at him, Bitty just about fainted. There was a dumb narrative he’d created in his head so long ago about Kent having a media smile and real smile and there was a growing chance that it was true.

And that one of those genuine smiles was for him.

“Shall we walk?” Kent asked, extending an arm out to him. Bitty linked elbows with him, pressing in close, and nodded. They’d discussed this- Kent was hesitant to go to a coffee shop, or a bar, but moving around was better. Bitty deferred to him, since he didn’t know squat about avoiding guys with cameras.

The downtown Providence area wasn’t big, by any means, but it was nice in the cool spring air to walk close to Kent like this, even if it felt a little like running laps on a track around an empty football field. Kent’s voice was rough, like all the interviews he’d watched, but sweet, too. In not one press conference had he said the word cutie, and Bitty felt like he was holding onto a secret, knowing what it sounded like when Kent said that and smiled down at him with a smirk.

He didn’t hate the smirk anymore. It was Kent.

The bench in a small, wooded park on the edge of town was wet when they sat down, and Bitty cringed to think of his light wash jeans.

“Sorry, we can go-” Kent said immediately, watching his face. Lord, what a sweetheart. Bitty tugged him back down to sit, his hand lingering on the other’s shoulder. When he asked if that was okay, Kent nodded and leaned in closer.

He could have said it was chilly, that he was trying to warm up now that his ass was cold and wet and a little muddy and they’d stopped walking. But that would pretend that it wasn’t just nice, being this close to Kent, whose arm came around Bitty’s back. He could feel that Kent was tense, not quite relaxing against him, not sure if he could rest his arm around Bitty or if he should pull him in closer.

Bitty scootched closer and rested his head on Kent’s shoulder, and in response Kent’s arm tightened around him, anchoring him in place.

They chatted softly about inane things, all their main chit chat exhausted on the walk. For now it was just good to be like this.

Bitty could see himself dozing off like this, looking up into Kent’s blue eyes and feeling like he was special. He cursed under his breath when his phone buzzed in his pocket and he had to peel himself away from the perfect little moment.

> 🏒 Shitty: You’ve got fifteen minutes to go
> 
> 🏒 Shitty: If you’d wanted to stay longer you should have planned better, kegster’s tonight and we’re not missing it

Kent pointedly didn’t look at the phone, but when Bitty sighed heavily Kent frowned.

“Is your carriage about to turn back into a pumpkin?” Kent’s smirk  _ did  _ things to Bitty and he couldn’t answer for a moment, but then his brain refreshed and he nodded. “C’mere,” Kent said, and pulled him back closer, Bitty dropping his phone into his lap. “Can I kiss you good bye?”

Bitty could feel his blush everywhere and looked around. “Aren’t you worried about- pictures?”

Kent shook his head. “We’re alone, checkie.”

He got back to the coffee shop five minutes late, with no less than six texts from Shitty on his phone in those five minutes.

The ride back was chatty- how could it not be? Bitty lived to talk, to tell people about his life, and Shitty was the one and only person who knew about this, who he could tell. He left out the bits where he had barely been able to pull himself away from Kent on the bench, the way their first kiss was awkward but sweet, the way they figured it out and Kent’s hand was on his side and Bitty wished his shirt wasn’t between them,

He got drunk that night on tub juice and texted Kent way too many smiley faces.

> **🐈** K : glad youre having fun
> 
> **🐈** K : be safe tonight okay?

Two weeks later, Bitty drove up in his Honda alone, and had to text Shitty in the mid afternoon that he wasn’t coming back that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: daily updates!  
> Also me: what if, and hear me out now, instead of doing that i embroidered a rainbow virus particle with a tiny cowboy hat
> 
> I swear I think there's only 1 chapter left  
> Maybe 2  
> This was supposed to be 3! When I started it! I don't know what's happening!


	6. Parse

“You and Jack, were you…?”

Kent let the question hang in the air for the moment as he sat on the counter, lining up the playlist as Bitty made the pie. He’d made a special trip to Target for all the ingredients and all the kitchen tools his boyf- no, that  _ Bitty  _ had requested, since his kitchen supplies were limited to what you needed to bake chicken breasts, boil rice, and heat up cans or frozen bags of veggies. He’d hoped that when he sent those pictures of the apartments for Bitty to choose that the other would be cooking in this kitchen and he’d been… right, so far.

“He and I were close,” he said and shrugged, adding Britney to the playlist.

“The rumors-”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Kent said softly in an effort to cut him off gently. He honestly wanted to get into this- even though just thinking about whether or not they were ever… (not that the question was finished often) his mind would only ever go through the entire, short time they were… and charge straight ahead to that last night they could even be considered as.... He’d never talked about that night, not after the doctors had needed him to recount what he’d done, after Bob and Alicia asked him and he gave a slightly rose-colored version. 

Jack didn’t need Kent rehashing that night to his teammate. And Jack didn’t need Kent outing him to that same teammate.

“Honey-”

“We were close. C’mere,” he said, and Bitty left his dough, going to lean against Kent, slotted between his legs. “Whatever we were or weren’t isn’t… it’s not where I’m at now.” He wrapped his arms around Bitty and put his chin on the other’s shoulder. “Thanks for asking, though. Instead of just googling.”

He could feel Bitty giggling under him.

“You still googled, didn’t you?” He asked with a chuckle.

Bitty pulled away and kissed Kent’s cheek before going back to his pie dough. 

“I’m a child of the internet, Kent, I’m always going to google it. I’ll just… confirm it with you, too.”

Kent nodded at that, and added Dixie Chicks to the playlist.

The blackberry pie that Bitty made that weekend, with the double crust and the same crossed hockey sticks scored into the top that Bitty had told him to make that first pie tutorial, tasted so good. It looked good on camera, too, after Bitty’s fifty takes as he moved it around the kitchen to capture it in the perfect light.

Bitty gave him a playful shove as he moved it around and frowned, Kent somehow always in the way of his next ideal spot. “In two months I’ll know exactly where to take a picture in your kitchen at any time of day, but there’s a  _ learning curve  _ to that, okay?”

Kent smiled at the idea of two months.

> @omgcheckplease
> 
> Made with love (don’t laugh at the lighting okay)
> 
> 3:16 pm

His favorite hotel near Samwell quickly became a little bed and breakfast with lavender walls in every room (by the end of the semester, he’d stayed in each of the four rooms, all with lavender walls). The owner’s husband had recognized him the first time Kent checked in, and clapped him on the back and said he’d done something good out there. Kent shook his hand and thanked the man.

The owner let them use her kitchen, especially charmed when she would get her pie pan back filled with an extra pie since Bitty would make a double batch, as a thank you.

“You did great out there today, sweetheart,” Bitty murmured one night when they hadn’t gotten to use the kitchen, straddling him on the bed and his fingers digging into all the tense muscles on Kent’s bare back. He was face down, his eyes closed as he could feel his soul leaving his body. How had he gotten this fucking lucky? 

“Thanks, cutie,” he answered drowsily. He’d been up since what, six am? Samwell wasn’t exactly on the way back from their Florida game but also wasn’t  _ not _ on the way back to Providence. Bitty had met him at their bed and breakfast at eleven, and it was closing in on midnight am now.

“Lord, you’re drifting off on me,” Bitty said, and Kent could hear the smile in his voice. He finished whatever he was doing and then rolled off to lay beside Kent on the bed. 

Kent shifted to face Bitty and wrapped an arm over him, pulling him in. “Sorry I’m not exciting tonight. Didn’t think I’d be this beat.” The Panthers had put up a good fight, and the coaches had put Kent on the ice more than they had before. He’d planned his little trip two days ago and had figured he’d have enough energy to be worth it.

“It’s fine, I love that you came,” Bitty answered, and leaned in for a kiss.

Kent was breathless when they broke apart. “Me too, missed you,” he breathed. The extra flight was worth it, having to leave at ten in the morning and not even getting a full twelve hours with Bitty was worth it, Bitty looking him over and declaring he needed a massage was so worth it, that greeting kiss in the doorway was worth it.

“After the playoffs, we’ll get a little more time, right?”

“You’ll have school work still.”

Bitty scrunched his nose at that. “My grades are fine.”

Kent scoffed. “Last week Shitty texted me to quit distracting you since you had a research paper about the Bolshevik Revolution due in the morning.”

Bitty’s jaw dropped. “It’s a conspiracy!”

“Mhm. All the people who love you would rather that you didn’t lose your athletic scholarship.” Kent leaned in for another kiss, carefully not considering that he could absolutely cover Bitty’s bill if needed. They’d met each other two months ago, not forever ago, even if it felt like that as he tucked himself against Bitty like he belonged there and closed his eyes. “Can you set your alarm for 8?” He asked, his mouth against Bitty’s shirt. He knew the other always stayed on his phone after he dozed off.

“Of course, hon, does that leave us some time together in the morning?”

“You know it,” he mumbled.

> @kvparson_official
> 
> Summer can’t get here soon enough holy shit. I fucking need to get a day at the beach with some of those lil tiny shorts? You know the ones? Count me the fuck in on that.
> 
> 10:45 am

On a crisp fall day, Kent let his hand slip out of Bitty’s as he saw Camper walking down the same park sidewalk as them, his wife and daughter in tow. 

Bitty pulled out his phone ostensibly to scroll through whatever app when they all stopped to chat after being introduced as Kent’s friend. Kent crouched down to listen to Camper’s daughter tell him about the tree she’d just climbed and he could feel Bitty’s eyes on him as he nodded along, nearly falling over with exaggerated surprise when she told him that she’d gotten all the way to the top.

“She’s a brave one, huh?”

“Absolutely. Gonna be scaring the shit outta you when she starts playing contact sports,” Kent answered with a smirk as he stood back up. After a few minutes of obligatory chatter, Kent wished the Campagnas well so that he and Bitty could keep walking, ostensibly in the park to look at the changing colors of the leaves.

He put his hand back in Bitty’s once they rounded a corner and were alone again.

“Sorry,” Bitty said softly.

Kent squeezed his hand. “Not your fault, babe.”

“Do you- do you think you’d want them to know if you had a boyfriend?”

“If?” Kent asked, smiling and hoping to break the tension that had settled between them since Camper. They’d gone over this when Kent had visited in the summer and Bitty had told his parents that he was visiting his old camp, which wasn’t… entirely false. Just stretching some truth so they could have two days alone in a penthouse hotel room in Atlanta, and Kent could mention that he wanted to think of himself as Bitty’s boyfriend.

“You know. Do you want them to know about me? They already know you’re gay.”

Kent nodded. He’d gone over this again and again in his head. “I- er, no. I don’t. I like… not having my whole life out there.”

“If it already is…” Bitty said, his voice picking up that whine that sometimes could drive Kent crazy. 

“The tabloids know enough about all the things I’ve done,” he answered, doing his level best not to get upset- he wasn’t upset at Bitty, but this was bullshit from his past and the thought of the tabloid pictures of him drunk or whatever, flashy headlines asking if pro athletes were leeches on society, set his blood boiling.

The headlines of him and Clayton were worse, the kiss and the way they’d held hands and Kent had looked at Clayton with all the love and lust he’d felt in their six weeks together.

No, he didn’t want that anymore. Good, bad, ugly, he wanted his life private from the press, from the team that he was still just getting to know.

Bitty nodded as he said all of that, as coherently as he knew how.

“Shitty knows, and Ransom and Holster-”

“That’s your fault, Mr. Parson!” Bitty chuckled in mock outrage. “ _ You  _ tackled  _ me  _ in the living room and didn’t even ask if anyone was raiding the kitchen for munchies!”

“It was two am! You said it was clear!” Kent had put together later that by “clear” he’d meant that Jack was out of the Haus, and so he’d nixed going to their bed and breakfast for the last night before Bitty went back to Georgia for the summer. It had been worth it to be there for Bitty’s first night in the Haus, as sentimental as that was.

“College boys are dumb! And hungry!”

Kent glanced around and then pulled Bitty in for a hug and a soft kiss. “I want you to tell whoever you want to. Shit, I’d introduce myself to your parents if that’s what you wanted.” Bitty looked just as unhappy with that offer as he’d felt with making it, but he’d do it, argument free, if asked. “Just… slowly. I want to add people as it feels right.”

“Will you ever want to tell everyone?”

They went back to walking along, and Kent shrugged. “I doubt it.” He looked over at Bitty. “That okay?”

“I dunno.”

He nodded. “That’s fair.” They had the time to figure out if this was right for them, or if there was some real future where they’d have this conversation again, likely to the same results.

Kent wanted to have this argument again in a few years, desperately so, and wanted it to be with Bitty. He glanced around again- they were deep in the park by now, and it was deserted- and then kissed Bitty properly.

  
  


> @omgcheckplease
> 
> Favorite thing about fall when I’m not in Georgia?? It’s CHUNKY SWEATER TIME. Check out my #ootd I wore taking a walk in a park nearby. Y’all, it was a perfect day.
> 
> 6:10 pm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...so I called this the end? Idk if it is or not. It comes to some sort of conclusion, and honestly I've moved on to another fic (still with Kent!) so I haven't felt like adding to this. Maybe an epilogue? Idk, I like that this ends on a Kent chapter after the rest being Bitty chapters.
> 
> Thanks everyone for all your comments and kudos!! This was my first check please fic I've posted here (back when I had a tumblr I had a few ficlets on my omgcp sideblog but do those even count??) and it's wild posting in a fandom that's actually like, active.


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